About Fès-Medina
The city of Fès, known at the beginning as Fès al Bali, was founded by Idris I on the right bank of the Oued Fès. Alongside the indigenous people, Andalusian refugees lived in the territory at that time. Fès, symbol of the oriental city, is the third largest city in Morocco, after Casablanca and Rabat, and also one of the four "imperial cities" along with Marrakech, Meknès and Rabat. It is often considered the spiritual and cultural capital of the country while also being a tourist destination: discover the Royal Palace of Fès, the 14th-century mosques, and the kissaria (fabric market).
Fès or Fez (فـاس [fās] in Arabic) is the fourth largest city in Morocco, after Casablanca, Rabat, and Marrakech. It is one of the four "imperial cities" (along with Marrakech, Meknès, and Rabat). The old city, a model example of an oriental city, is under UNESCO protection. The deep blue of its ceramics is one of the characteristic symbols of Fès. It possesses the largest Medina in the world. Its past international influence makes it one of the capitals of Arab-Muslim civilisation alongside Damascus, Baghdad, Cordoba, Granada, Al-Quds...
According to a legend, the name of the city comes from the discovery of a pickaxe (Arabic: [fās], pickaxe) at the site of the first foundations.
Fès does not reveal itself easily. To enter it, one must pass through the great gate, both visible and veiled, of the sacred. For Fès is a sanctuary. This is how the Sufis, those initiates of Islam, have always called it: the Zaouïa. The traveller who came from afar knew that upon arriving at the gates of the city, it was to its founder and its patron saint himself that they were asking for hospitality. For them, Fès is the city of Moulay Idriss.
Fès, which was for several centuries a political and intellectual capital of Morocco, became a centre for meetings and exchanges.
